up to 3.5. >> exactly. >> what would be the surprise, 5 or 2? >> i'm for rates moving up. >> when do you surprise us? >> first week of january. >> first week of january. >> we're going to have to check back in with you. and you'll be on. >> i'll come on. >> byron, thank you so much. everybody enjoy your thanksgiving holiday, make sure you join us on saturday. "squawk on the street" starts right now. >> and happy hanukkah. good morning. welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm david faber along with simon hobbs and jon forte. jim cramer and carl quintanilla got an early start on the holiday. we prepared for this wednesday of trading. the implied open would seem to be to the positive for all the major averages. as for the 10-year yield, i would guess around 2.71, has

been more or less stable, at least let's call it for the last few days. as for europe, going over there for the continent, across the atlantic? >> it's positive. >> thank you, simon. except for where's that red there? i don't know even know where that is. >> germany. >> it much smaller than you might this. >> we have a new coalition government in germany. they may be about to expel silvio berlusconi. >> we have a live and exclusive interview with hewlett packard ceo meg whitman is coming up. >> the nasdaq coming off its first close above 4,000 in more

than 14 years. >> triple a is projecting more than 43 million americans will journey 50 miles or more away from home between now and sunday but stormy weather on the east coast is wreaking havoc on holiday travel plans for millions of them. let's check in with kayla tausche. she is at newark liberty airport and will give us an update. it's not looking good, though. i don't know how many flights have been cancelled. i assume you'll tell us. >> it's so far so good for travelers at newark. the dreary weather is something they can't change but they're arrive hearing relatively pleasantly surprised that some flights are even leaving early. that's not the case at laguardia and at the airports in philadelphia. j.f.k. and newark only delays of 15 minutes whereas laguardia about an hour, philly up to two hours, most of those delays for inbound flights. we just had a presser from the

port authority earlier today, much of the havoc on the travelers is expected later in the day as the storm pushes up the east coast. here's the port authority's thomas bosco. >> with the weather there are scattered delays and cancellations. the best advice i can give to the air traveling public is to contact your airline before you leave home to come to the airport, find out about the status of your particular flight. >> now, with of course the scale of this storm, a lot of the country is affected. so far today nationwide we have 268 flights cancelled, 570 delayed. that's roughly the same number of cancellations as yesterday and this is according to flight stats. but of course staff at newark here are telling us that the big rush for them was yesterday. a lot of travelers rebooking their flights to try to get out ahead of this storm. there was a huge rush, especially yesterday afternoon. people didn't want their flight

to get cancelled and they i anticipated that might happen today. there could be a lot of bad news for travelers but if you can get out within this relatively short time frame, it's looking good for travelers here in newark. >> shares of hewlett packard are jumping in premarket training after results driven by strong growth and unexpectedly stronger results in printing and even in the personal systems group. we'll get into all of that with meg whitman. she's going to join news just a few minutes. good to have you here as well, jon forte. it's your old beat. >> i'm still on it. >> it's not as if the company is growing, still seeing some

type-line erosion. >> some opportunistic growth. it was low margin, a lot of it. it is reversing the play book that hp and others have it and over several quarters, saying they don't want to sacrifice margin for volume. well, they're doing that, not just in pcs but also in service. you sort of wonder what the end game is. you can only do that for so long since they're in secular decline. they could get caught if they don't figure what to pivot to once there's no more margin and unit sales to be had. >> i had a conversation with ceo meg whitman yesterday and they did indicate on the call a movement more looking more for margin again. it's amazing. $8.6 billion in revenues, $260 million in operating profits. those operating margins are so razor thin. >> but enterprise is growing.

that's the thing, isn't it? having sat the guy that is in charge of that. after eight quarters they managed to get that moving. >> two areas in particular, networking and storage doing well, that three times acquisition that some criticize as too expensive, they're liking it now. >> it's interesting you mentioned that. it's come up a lot. seems to be a shining star over there. we'll have a lot more to talk about. that was a little taste of what we can expect. we'll have the exclusive interview with meg whitman coming up. and take a look at futures one more time as we're about 20 minutes from the open of trading here. more "squawk on the street" live from post 9 at the nyse. hi honey, did you get the toaster cozy? yep. got all the cozies. [ grandma ] with new fedex one rate, i could fill a box and ship it for one flat rate. so i knit until it was full. you'd be crazy not to. is that nana? [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex.

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shares of hewlett packard trading higher in the premarket. the stock perhaps will advance as much as 6% to 7% when it does open. joining us now for a cnbc exclusive is hewlett packard's ceo meg whitman. always good to have you on and appreciate your willingness to be on, especially considering how early it is. >> happy to be here. >> we've had you on each quarter over the last couple of years you've been running the company. you pointed to 2014 as a key

year and i want to start there. it was a good quarter for hewlett packard, at least bit market's interpretation at this point but nonetheless revenues still are declining. is 2014 the year where you finally turn the overall business around in terms of starting to see revenue increases? >> well, it is a pivotal year for hp. we said about six weeks ago you should expect revenue to stabilize, probably not grow, in 2014 but stabilize and you'll see progress in our innovation, excellence and ability to deliver great products for excellence. it's an important year. we've laid the foundation. we're two years into our five-year turn around. 2013 was capped by a good, strong, solid quarter for hp. >> some would say you've already stabilized things. you're only down 1%, you had a number of divisions, enterprise

group up, printing up in constant currency so why not build off of growth into next year? why are you seeming to be so conservative heading into 2014? >> well, this is a big company with a lot of moving parts, and we've got declining business, we've got businesses that are about flat and we have our growth businesses. the question of revenue growth is really going to be how fast can we grow those growth businesses that pivot to what i call the new style of i.t., where technology is going. and then can we slow the decline of some of our legacy businesses. plus, david, i would say we're facing a tough macro economic environment. we're not forecasting any tail winds from a macro economic point of view almost anywhere in the world. >> tell me more about that, meg. i'm curious. it's the same as this year. i would assume there were no real tail winds in '13 or in '12. you talked a number of times about potential head winds in 2014. what do you mean when you say

that? >> 40% of hewlett packard's revenue comes from europe. this company got to europe very early and it's been a great vehicle for growth. and we see europe softening quite a bit. our enterprise group had a good period in europe but china is soft. the united states seems stabilized but not taking off on a growth trajectory. enterprises are still conservative with their spending, consumers are conservative with their spending. we don't see any real game changers. >> a number of your competitors cited expectations and saw weakness in china, which you said was not bad. you didn't see a weakness impact? >> not a big impact for happened in the third quarter. >> i want to talk about

printing. total hardware units up 6%, which would seem to lay the groundwork for more ink sales down the road. can you continue that kind of unit growth into next year? >> we believe we can. this is a very strong business for hewlett packard and it has only gotten stronger over the last two years. you might recall when you and i first met when i became head of hp, the narrative was that printing is in a big secular decline and hp is gaining share. we think continuing to place units in laser and in ink is going to be a very positive thing going forward. indigo had a great quarter. we're confident in our printing business going into 2014. >> you think can you continue to maintain 17.7% profit margins or up even higher?

>> i'd count on that general range, plus or minus just a bit. we are making investments in that business, and making sure we're taking advantage, which is our subscription business in the united states. we're very clear about that business. some of our. >> we like to talk about the death of the pc. man, we've spent a lot of time on that one, meg. but consumer revenue was still down 10%. it seems as though the opportunity is more in the commercial area for you. do you pivot even more to that area in 2014 or do you maintain all these product offerings on the consumer level, even though it would seem there were fewer people buying wcs. >> we had a good quarter in our

commercial business. we'll in companies still need to do work stations, desktops, laptops and high brids. we also see an opportunity in tablets. the commercial tablet market right now is very competitive, not sem people are making money so we will play there but quite selectively. fwen in the consumer sc so we're really focused on profitable growth in the p.c. business. it's not a long-margin business and has an excellent return on invested capital profile. >> you're going to go after commercial tablets, correct? it's the consumer where it's extraordinary errol. >> we had a tremendous channel network, a partner network that

is really a big part of our over all distribution. so we want to capitalize on that as we did -- we had success with our elite pad 900. we're coming out with version two of that and a number of other tablets. there's an opportunity for multi-operating system, multi-architecture, as well as a number of different form factors. as we're headed to 2014, we're going to see if we can't carve out a place for ourselves in the tablet business. >> when we were talking about dell as a public company, that they were cutting price to keep relationship, which was pressuring already thin margins in that business. do you think they changed their

approach now that they're private? >> you know, it's hard to tell, david. we'll know overtime as we look at the shares in the marketplace, who is gaining share, who is losing care. this is a very competitive market across virtually all our product lines. so woo have to v the right product, the right krog segment and segment the market smartly -- a bill and. >> i know in the conference call you and your ceo continue to talk about an tune some would say haven't they already done that? you've already cut a lot of jobs at this point, you've cut a lot of costs. where else can you go, meg, in terms of dinning to do that? >> we're two years in a three-year restructuring program

that i announced when i took over a couple of years ago. so we have more cost reduction that's already planned. now we're into that next phase, which is business process reengineering, thinking about designing our product end to end, from the design of the product, in case of servers or mother boards, all the way through dodgist iks and supply been you might rrl so we're going to get sharper and crisper and improve our excellence. when i opened the call yesterday, i said we're really pleased with our performance but we have a long arm to go. >> to be was three to five

years. now you're saving five, which it's been for a while. >> so when do we finally do an interview where you say the turn around has occurred and we're on a different growth trajectory sp. >> just to be really clear, david, i think i always said five years. >> maybe i'm wrong. i didn't say five because i meant three. now listen, there's a lot of milestones along the way. can you see the milestones. look at our net debt position on the operating company. we achieved our goal of zero net debt position on the operating company. we generated $9 billion of free cash flow. so the financials of this company, the balance sheet is much stronger. i'd say the turn around on the balance sheet has occurred and we have to keep on going on our go to market, on our products. but we'll make progress all wait along. in today's business world, you never can stop improving. you never can declare victory, you've got to keep going.

i still think we're on track on that five-year turn around zuch mentioned the $9 billion in free cash flow. it was a large number, perhaps unexpectedly large. but next year you're targeting a far lower number. why is that? >> one is a number of things in the first quarter we've got our bonus payment from fiscal year 13 that hits, we've got some incremental capital expenditure. we're now down to 17 days of cash conversion cycle. we think a more sustainable level there is probably in the 20, 21, 22 range. i hope we can do better. but, you know, we have to be realistic in terms of what's sustainable from a cash conversion cycle. >> i just want to defend myself with you, meg. you did say in a conference call in 2012 that if you look at history, these turn arounds are not done in less than two years, often they take three or four or

five years. we don't have to belabor the point. let me end on 3-d printing. i know you got a question yesterday and answered something about acorns. can you put a few more leaves on that tree for me? >> we're excited about the 3-d market. it's an adjacency for hp. 3-d printing is more like i would like to call it 3-d model making in many ways. we have to figure out how we can differentiate our offering and the biggest challenge is the length of time that it takes to actually print the model. we believe we've got some technology that can speed that up dramatically. so lots of exciting things. we think it's an interesting adjacent market for us and you'll see more announcements in 2014. but it's going to be a small business in 2014. we're at the beginning of i think a 3d printing market, not

even the middle. when i said acorn, it will be a small number for us in 2014 but we're excited about it. >> and finally, meg, from the states or in the urchlts k. since then. why is that? >> i think the regulatory agencies are doing their work. they understand the issues and they're doing their work. these things take time because it is complicated. they're doing their work and i imagine sometime next year they be -- then. meg whitman, thank you. >> thank you. >> coming up, we'll talk to mindy grossman as the multi-channel retailer gears up

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. we have an update regarding milton's upcoming ipo. the hotel now says it intends to list its common shares here on the new york stock exchange and under the ticker symbol hlt. it wasn't necessarily obvious it would list here at the nyse because marriott is going to the nasdaq, simply to save $200,000,

$300,000 a year. we could have a listing first, second week in december. >> that's fair to say. it was not obvious for some time after that leveraged buyout that hilton would ever make it back to the public market. >> they bought at the top of the market. >> it was a hugely, highly levered transaction. blackstone and john gray managed to refinance, managed to do a lot of different things and now this is going to be a home run. i don't think that's too much of a stretch for blackstone. >> ipo coming back. said it wouldn't happen, even this one. >> get ready, it's the last trading day before thanksgiving. "squawk on the street" is back after this. [ male announcer ] once, there was a man

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of the world, where the opening bell is set to ring in about 20 seconds or so, i think. >> top at the opening, hp. >> right here we have discount retailer burlington coats. very warm today. i walked out without a winter coat on. tomorrow's getting cold. over at the nasdaq, crown media holdings, operator of the hallmark channel. i know it's a favorite at the forte house. >> on all the time. >> talking about hewlett packard. those share are up about 7%. when i asked meg whitman about china, she made sure to say networking was actually strong

and did not see weakness from the sequester. cisco had a very poor quarter and cited at least a couple of those things, and others, for the weakness. any thoughts? >> meg said on the call she's got china directly reporting to her, they've got a chairman of hp's china business. i think the powers that be in china tend to like that sort of structure where they've got a direct route to the top. ibm is scrambling, trying to do something like that. she said networking is performing well but they're seeing weakness in lots of areas at the same time. cisco, they've had a couple of quarters are weakness but seem to have dribbled it out. they first announced the layoffs and restructuring and cape back and said things are a little worse than we thought. i think meg did a smart thing a couple of quarters ago and laid out some of the back news, backed off some of that to say she'd see slight growth in 2014.

now the stock dipped down in early august and it popped back up right at a good time. when everybody else has worse news, hp is doing a little better. masterful job of righting a sinking ship, but now we'll see if she can get it move ing. >> since our very first interviews together when she took the ceo job, she's been talking 2014 as a key year in judging that turn around. one would anticipate if it's a bad year, the calls for breaking that company up will start again. so far i gegs you have to say so good. >> with the units up, it's a harder argument for the folks who want to break it off. especially because they get such a good return on invested capital in that business. that's why i was scratching my

head when he said he was going to spin it off. how is he going to make that work? printing, they're shifting the business model. it seems they could be lining themselves up for some trouble there because if you don't have the cheap hardware creating that revenue from supplies down the line, if somebody comes in and competes with you on hardware, you can lose your position a lot more quickly. >> although an installed base that's up 6% on unit growth would seem to lead to ink sales down the road that are going to be higher. >> what are you keeping an eye on? >> abercrombie. the banks are interesting today. did you see the reports from s&p they could face legal charges in excess of $100 billion. there are arguably provisions for that. it's suggesting it's a better candidate for aro for a leveraged buyout.

crocks meanwhile in talk with blackstone looking to raise funds. another gainer at the open. >> john, interesting. if i told you this year would see happened sales up 91.5%, meanwhile apple year to date up 1.2% might have been unexpected when the year began. >> absolutely. you have to give meg whitman credit. her job is tougher than marissa mayer's. meg has had to make steep cuts, telegraph things in the right direction to keep the markets involved and keep them off her back a bit and she's got a quarter where she's done that quite well. >> as we look at shares of yahoo!. we've talked many times about the increase in value of alibaba, not to mention yahoo!

japan helping on that. apple up about 1%. >> for apple, that's a good day. >> will it be the ipad christmas. we spoke about that earlier in the week. >> we did get a deal today, you may have seen it, the form infusion business being bought by aprias buying cvs. there has been very little merger activity, despite what has been consistently positive reaction from shareholders. they're deals investors can die

just and understand the rational behind them but at somewhat lower premiums than we've seen in the past. so we have the s&p up 28% this year. you're still getting your all-time highs. every year i hear the same monica. oh, it's coming, it's coming. >>. >> if that was the mindset from the beginning, you've not got that much revenue -- >> there's a company call apple that has a little bit of revenue. >> some of it overseas. >> still seeing these tax inversio inversions, which is an interesting story but perhaps for another day. >> let's go to mary thompson for more of what's going on at the stock exchange, she's on the floor. >> the nasdaq closing above

4,000 for the first time in 13 years. what we're seeing today is a pretty broad-based rally with the exception of semi-conductors, trading to down side in early trade. tech and retailers will be in focus on the heels of stronger than expected results giving a lift to dow component ibm. analog devices is warning for what it says is a seasonal slowdown and expects to be below analyst estimates. similar to infoblox. it is warning on the fiscal second quarter, expecting earnings of 9 cents to 11 cents a share, which is below estimates of 12 cents a share. we've been talking to retails all week because of black

fridays and also because a number of them have come out with results. timmy's, a teen retailer, has reported up this year but says trends say it's cautious. analysts were looking at 78 cents a share. it's taking a big hit this morning. and also zales, the last of the big three publicly traded jewelers to report its result. zales coming out with a slightly smaller than expected loss for the current quarter, same-store sales up 4.4%, loss of 83 cents a share. again, this company continues to go through a continuing -- you heard david mention cvs. they've been stronger pretty much throughout the past couple of months.

>> cvs is expected to add to revenues as soon as the acquisition is complete. lastly we want to touch on energy stocks. they are lower. the price of oil today is at the lowest level since june and that is keeping pressure on energy stocks, which were a reason we saw that selloff late day yesterday. simon, back to you. >> thank you very much, mary thompson. we have a lot of data today. let's send it over to rick san temmy to see how we're positioned for that. good morning to you, rick. >> good morning, simon. indeed we're going to cover chicago in a unique fashion. make sure you watch, viewers and listen, listeners. if we look at yield curve, it's been steepening. it's been the home run trade for many on the year so far. look at the two-day charts of 5 versus 10s but it has moderated. there is some flattening going

on. still hovering at the highest levels sense august of '11. it is retrenching just a bit. still very close to that 250 mark, highest or widest since september of 2011. look at the ten-year specifically. look at those two twin spikes, very close but just under the 2.75 mark. the yen and euro, both moving rather aggressively in the dollar favor -- not in the dollar favor, on the euro. david, back to you. >> thank you, mr. santelli. do want to do a little more cable talk as we look through the sponsors of mr. santelli's report there. remember all the old coffee talk? we'll call this cable talk. there's been an awful lot of talk, hasn't there, about potential consolidation in the cable industry. my reporting on friday about comcast's hiring of advisers to

take a look at the regulatory road map, if you will, if they were to try to acquire time warner cable, not that necessarily they are going to move on that. yesterday we got reports from the wall street journal that cox communication, private company, is contemplating entering the fray as well. remains unclear exactly what that would look like. take a look, though, at shares of time warner cable. i think that's the keefe thiy t focus on here. that is just this week, in the last week. it's moved up 16 points let's call it. of course it was june that we first told you about the talks that had taken place or the approach that had taken place from liberty and charter to time warner cable. back then the stock was, as you see, in the 90s. let's call the unaffected stock price in the hundreds here.

you already have a premium on the synergy of the deal and improvements in management that would accrue to the bottom line. that's a lot. you're getting up to nose bleed territory. when liberty and charter, which remain the most likely acquirer, when they look at this deal, one can't imagine they get much above 140. perhaps they can finance up to a hundred bucks a share in cash, the rest in stock. they have a shareholder base they would be relying on to help them conceivably carry the day in any proxy fights or simply pressure time warner management. how many of those shares have gotten in at 120, 130. it will be interesting to see what happens over the next couple of weeks, whether they're able to somehow jaw bone it down, i don't know whether they'll be able to and whether

they have chosen. one can't imagine they would want to lever their balance sheet up or be able o to do wb i don't know what the numbers would be. that would not be well received by shareholders of time warner cable. a lot of different options. we've got to wait and see if charter and liberty make a public proposal here to really put the pressure on. this is what we're offering, shareholders, now help us find a wait a minute to get him to the table. >> let's check out the action in the commodities pit. for that wooel go to bertha

coombs over at the nymex. >> the industry numbers out last night from the american petroleum industry were much more bearish than the expectations. reuters is expecting a build today of about 600,000 barrels. we saw more than ten times that in the api numbers yesterday, though they were a little more bullish when it came to gasoline, a smaller-than-expected build. one of the things the technicians are watching, the 50-day moving average and 200-day moving average, the 50-day average moving below a cross. if we see that we could see even mo more. >> last year we saw a 13% increase in wti prices after that. the numbers will be out at 10:30 and as usually we'll be back with them live. back to you guys. >> thank you very much, berth a

coombs. let's send it down to rick santelli in chicago. we're awaiting the chicago cmi. it was spectacular last month, rick, largely due to the auto sector. what do you have now? >> our last look was a whisper under 66, telling me that was the best of march 2011. survey says, here we go! 63.0. so that is down 2.9 from that extremely positive simon reference october look, new orders down 5.5 to 68, production down 6.8 to 64.3, backlogs minus 1.2 to 59.8. employment, i always like that the best, up 3.2 to 60.9. that is the best since october 2011. prices paid up 7 to 63.7.

give me an analysis of what this means. >> a nice report, validating what we saw in october. production, all above 60, baromet barometer, three-month moving average best in three years, inventories best in over seven years since the credit crisis. and here's what's going on here, rick. this is going to take a couple months to get through. we're having a major rebuild. we got way too thin in the summer. people were foregoing business. they got worried and said we're not going to put ourselves in that position again, we're going to rebuild. then we have the holiday coming up. a lot of factory closers, a lot of protecting of this inventory and the chinese new year is a big deal. it always disrupts the supply chain. >> when does that start? >> january 31st. the other thing, rick, is going into next year, public enemy number one to these purchasers is supplier deliveries. they're lengthening out,

suppliers cannot deliver, they're very worried this could curtail the growth. >> so a lot of this is about inventory or the huge buildup. >> i'm consumer confidence till the top of the hour. coming up on the program, as we approach black friday, what is the state of the consumer about the high and low end and how do you profit now? that when "squawk on the street" returns. i'm a careful investor. when you do what i do, you think about risk. i don't like the ups and downs of the market, but i can't just sit on my cash. i want to be prepared for the long haul. ishares minimum volatility etfs. investments designed for a smoother ride. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus, which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal.

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holiday spending is about to begin big time. steve liesman joins us with a report card. >> reporter: financially consumers look to be in a bit better shape than this time last year. mentally, though, unfortunately not much change from depressed levels. the consumer ahead of the holidays, can you see consumer confidence, the latest reading down from where it was last year and still at a low level. weekly earnings, year-on-year percent change unchanged from last year. those out of the workforce,

discouraged workers down but still at a high level, 3.09 million. debt service, we made some progress there, as well as on the net worth, up 11.46% compared to a year ago. household net worth hitting another all-time high with gains in home values and stock portfolios. the question remains whether they'll turn gains in their holdings into -- whthere are al 2.3 million more employed american than there were this time last year. the head winds include slow wage gains, high unemployment, low consumer confidence and affordable care act impact. and could be lower energy and gasoline costs. gas is down about 6 cents from

where it was last year, s&p 400 points higher. do consumers turn gasoline savings into gifts and stock gains into stock are stuffers. i suspect they may. >> thank very much, steve liesman. it is the last key report on consumer sentiment before black friday. breaking news and market reaction next. as we head to break, the nasdaq hate new 13-year high. does bring back memories looking at that peak back in 2000. i think it was 5,000 on march 10, 2001. we're right back after this. you get your hair cut here. you find that certain thing you were looking for here, but actually you get so much more. when you shop at these small local businesses, you support all the things that make your community great. the money you spend here, stays here. in this place you call your neighborhood. this saturday is small business saturday.

get out and shop small. ♪ ♪ no two people have the same financial goals. pnc works with you to understand yours and help plan for your retirement. visit a branch or call now for your personal retirement review.

welcome back to "squawk on the street." we're awaiting university of michigan confidence index. we're expecting a number slightly above or near 73. our last look was the preliminary -- here it is! 75.1! 75.1! that is now the november final. it's definitely better than expected, and to give you some context on this number, it would be the best number since september, 77.5, but not really close to july's 85.1, which was

the best since july '07. simon, back to you. >> to the point steve was making earlier here, rick, it is higher than the 71.5 we had going into the holiday season last year. so the consumer is more confident this year going into the spending than it was last year. >> yes. and i would think as i look at the dow, the nasdaq and s&p, i have three good reasons why that may be true, simon. >> i guess so. i guess so. >> thank you, rick. let look at bitcoin. it would appear whatever you think of this very controversial internet online currency -- virtual currency is the correct term. i think we were at $14, give or take. extraordinary moves. >> yeah, andrew ross sorkin makes the argument it isn't really a currency per se because the people who are accepting it more and more are immediately

converting it into dollars. it seems to be a way to avoid transaction fees, cut out some folks when you're doing business in a digital world. is this good marketing for bitcoin the fact that it's up so high here or what? >> i think we're going to be talking a lot more about that in the course of the next two hours. coming up, turning black friday into green for your portfolio. we'll explain retail winners and losers. and later meet the ceo of a web site that the "new york times" calls an orgy of visual pleasure. stick around and find out. [ male announcer ] this december, experience the gift of true artistry and some of the best offers of the year at the lexus december to remember sales event. this is the pursuit of perfection. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550r life inspires your trading. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 where others see fads...

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at the lexus december to remember sales event. some of the best offers of the year. this is the pursuit of perfection. welcome back to "squawk on the street." we are awaiting october's read on lngmic indicators, lei, and i'm going to have to get the old tap shoes, up 0.2 of 1%, followed by a 0.2 upward revision from september, released originally of 0.7 to 0.9. the bond market says it best,

yields are up a bit. it seems it might have paid the most attention to better university of michigan and to some extent the drop in jobless claims. >> thank you very much. >> the winter storm blowing through the northeast is wreaking havoc on most people's travel plans. take a look at this map. this is the misery map tracking fly delays and cancellations in realtime. you can see it's not a pretty picture. kayla tausche is live at newark airport with the latest on the situation there. >> reporter: we've been seeing a steady stream of travelers coming in throughout the morning, expected to pick up a little bit later in the day. unfortunately the weather is supposed to worsen a little later in the day. in all, 3 million people are expected to travel by air for thanksgiving and now hanukkah week for those holidays. a lot of those are going to be seeing cancellations and those are picking up today as we

speak. there are 462 flights cancelled, only 30 of those at newark. a lot of the people showing up here have been pleasantly surprised. more cancellations at j.f.k. and laguardia. hurricane sandy had more than 12,000 cancellations. by comparison, this is a smaller storm, though in the last two days, 1,100 -- over 1,100 flights were cancelled. delays picking up as well, doubling in just the last hour, according to flight stats.come, more than 900 flights were rushing to get out of town earlier this week because the expectation was that in certain parts of if they haven't been able to get out of their city on the eastern sea board, then today is going to be a a very tough travel day.

in the next hour we have a press conference from the. >> we are on the eve of thanksgiving, one more day until several major retailers will open their doors to holiday shoppers. but does opening on thanksgiving pay off for those who do it? joining me, a senior research analyst at piper jaffrey and a senior equity analyst at mkm partners. welcome to the program, both of you. >> thank you. >> thank you, siechlon. >> just before we get on to the opening hour, ladies first, we just had a strong consumer confidence figure, or at least it's stronger than it was going into the holiday season last year. do you think we could havee upward surprises here? >> absolutely we do. we have more people employed today than we did a year ago, and the economy does seem to be

getting better, a little bit every single day. so we're encouraged by the overall consumer sentiment heading into the holiday season. >> interesting. patrick, we certainly stabilized on the housing data. where would you take us? what stores should we look at now? >> the third quarter was one of the weakest for retailing i've seen in my careers of covering retail. the holiday outlook that walmart and target gave were about the soberest i've heard. walmart is talking about flat comps, target is also talking flat comps. i think it's going to be a pretty tough holiday. there are still a number things weighing on consumer

psychologist. >> it's also going to mean the winners and losers here are going to be important, it's not just as if a rising tied is going to lift everyone. i haven't really heard much about the hot products this year. is that just a thing of the past or what do you identify as potentially the devices or products that are really going to get people shopping? >> you bet. the piper jaffrey consumer research team has identified primarily it's about electronics here. we have major video game console going on with both the xbox and plate station. we think it's going to be about electronics first but i wouldn't count out this apparel. cold weather drives conversion. >> that's true. patrick, i think back to gamestop. they really got hit in the last week or so after a big run-up this year. are these stocks already priced to include the anticipation they're really going to benefit

from consumer spend here? >> that is the story in the mass merchant space. electronics has been a stronger category. it was very weak last year. you've got the two new gaming consoles under there and there's underlying improvement in electronics anyway. that will be the focus with the gaming consoles and apple products and what not. beyond that it's just mix and match, just all over the store. i don't know that there are any real, you know, hot products per se beyond electronics. >> is it possible as an investor to be quite simplistic about it and say i know the top end of the market is doing well because of what the stock market is doing and house prices, the value end of the market is not doing so well because of cuts in food stamps and increasing uncertainty about job security. can you slice and dies your way through the retailers in that way, in the wake of what you said about target and walmart.

>> i think it's tough for this year to do that heading into the holidays. last year, the year before you could take a bar bell approach, buy the high end, buy the low end, avoid the middle. i don't know that that's the case this year. my best performer in the third quarter, i really had one standout and that was tjx. it was generally a little weaker than expected. >> but you fundamentally disagree with him. you're much more upbeat. >> i will tell you, conventional wisdom in this group right now is a very tough holiday season. we're haeging, we think we could surprise and delight people by the time we get on the other side of holiday. i wouldn't count out this group just yet. >> thank you both. >> and now it's time for "squawk

on the tweet." today it's all about giving thanks. we're asking you to tell us what business event or investment this year you and your portfolio are most grateful for. use the hash tag "why i'm thankful" and we'll air your responses coming up this morning. >> and meg whitman saying the company's five-year turn around plan is on track. find out what else she had to say when "squawk on the street" comes right back. ♪ hmm. ♪ mm-hmm. [ engine revs ] ♪ [ male announcer ] oh what fun it is to ride.

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welcome back to "squawk on the street." shares on infoblox are getting beat on the street. it did say had a a surge in quarter-over-quarter sales over quite some time and it will take some time to digest such big increases. >> thank you, dom. we're keeping an eye on hewlett packard, up the high of the session 9.3% after first reportings earnings after the bell that were better than

expectations. so for the fiscal year a revenue decline versus the year prior. we did speak with ceo meg whitman this morning. take a listen to what she had to say about revenue expectation for next year. >> you should expect revenue to stabilize, probably not grow in 2014 and you'll see real progress in terms of our innovation, operational excellence and our ability to deliver great products for customers. its important year. >> we also talked about her company's printing business, which did report better than expected in the last quarter. take a listen. hmm. that was a nice little picture there. >> that was beautiful. >> it looked like italy or something. >> it might have been italy. i think it was san francisco, where meg was joining us from. we have it now. you can take a listen.

>> oh. >> it's obviously a defective tape there. let me talk in my best meg whitman. we think laser and ink is going to be very much much a part of 2014, indigo had a great quarter. they are confident in their printing business going into next year. she's setting expectations fairly low because you can argue stabilization has taken place over the last quarter or two already but keeps talking about macro head winds going into 2014. >> i thought it was interesting the way she side stepped your question on autonomy. a california judge yesterday said they will have to answer a california lawsuit saying they knew the statements made by the company at the time of the acquisition were false. >> she did say on autonomy they expect to hear something i think

she said early next year. it a year ago now they referred to matter to the s.e.c. and to the office of -- >> ofr maybe? >> in the u.k. it's similar agency in the u.k. i forget the name. and it's been a long time waiting for something there. one would expect we would have heard given it's been a year since those allegations were first raised. >> cramer yesterday when we had him on talking through the earnings, he was saying this has become because of some of the china issues plaguing the enterprise space, hp may account for -- >> hp, he pointed out, has done very well in china. >> in contrast to cisco. which also saw weakness on the government side. hp did not see it. what is, it todd, the u.k.

office of serious fraud. >> sfo, serious fraud office. >> i'd expect would you have helped me with that one. >> they keep changing the name of the office. up next on the program, have you ever asked yourself why in the world do people brave those crowds on black friday to shop? we'll have the answer for you next on the show. plus catching fire isn't the only big move for thanksgiving week. ten other shows are hitting the theaters. richard gelfond will join us for more on the holiday box office right after this break. ♪ ♪

you get your coffee here. you get your hair cut here. you find that certain thing you were looking for here, but actually you get so much more. when you shop at these small local businesses, you support all the things that make your community great.

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choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal. tens of millions of shoppers will hit the stores in the next

few days to get their hands on those black friday deals. what are they buying and why do so many people brave the crowds? jane is live in huntington beach, california. i imagine it's beautiful weather where you are, jane. >> it is so gorgeous, simon. welcome to surf city. this area is a good mix of tourists and small retail chains and what they're saying bears out with what the national retail federation is predicting. most people have already started their shopping. >> i've already started. >> reporter: really? >> i'm very efficient that way. >> reporter: folks having breakfast at the sugar shack tell me they're buying apparel and gift cards at apple, old navy. i see two trends. >> i'm going to spend a little more than last year. >> i'd say a little more than

last year. >> for me personally it's been a good year. >> more. >> it's been a good year? >> yeah. >> i think less money. >> reporter: how come? >> i don't know. it's obama's fault. might get a tax. i don't know. >> reporter: are you excited about the holiday? >> i am excited because i'm here. can you kidding? it's been 6 degrees in michigan. >> reporter: all right. the second trend i'm seeing is pushback about shopping tomorrow. the retail federation says about 7 million fewer people are going to shop over the four-day weekend than last year, even though many stores are open on thanksgiving. most people here say they will not shop tomorrow and i got hilarious responses on twitter when i asked the question i'd rather what than going shopping on thanksgiving. "i'd rather judge a retirement home twerking contest, "i'd rather be a tech on the obama

care web site," and "i'd rather volunteer as a tribute". a lot of those people will be shopping online, not actually in the stores. >> very true, jane. wow, some interesting responses to that one. jane wells in california for us. thank you. >> it's also a big weekend for the movies. "hunger games" already catching fire. but what are the big blockbusters to watch for the season in joining us is richard gelfond, the ceo of imax. how important is the success of hunger games? lionsgate shares pulled back. >> the movie did fantastic but

it didn't quite measure to what the tracking was. some said 175 million, some said 190 million. it did like 168 and so people were disappointed. how that happens, i don't understand. it's one of the biggest moving openings. when you open a movie during the thanksgiving holiday weekend, people don't go out right away to see it. maybe they'll go thanksgiving. i think the movie is off to a good start and people just playing the weekend box office. >> i guess the next couple of weekends will be pretty important for that. by the way, "the hob it" is rigt on its heels. how important is that one? >> years ago, domestic was two-thirds and international one-third. now international is two-thirds

and domestic is one-third. >> can you say this is going to play well in this part of the country and that retail chain should do well? as an investors, are you able to add value to that process? do you think we'll have a take in the third quarter above expectations? >> our business is much more a global business, simon p. i think we have a decent idea in different countries where it would go. if you could predict movies, it's like predicting the stock market. it's very difficult to do. there are movies that just don't perform and the ones that break out. for example, "gravity" was questioned how well it would do. we just passed this weekend $80 million just in imax on gravity. in china we did about a fifth of the box office for the whole country. just surprising. so you can guess but you can be right or wrong. >> you have a big chinese

entourage with you today. >> i see them out there. >> gravity stands out because i think it was one of the films that everybody spoke about and for once everybody on the team was saying "have you seen it?" it kind of came from nowhere. when you watched it, it seemed to be a different type of movie. it took imax for me to a different level. does that change the outlook for your business and how movies will be made in the future to your benefit? >> a couple of interesting things. we've done movies in space and flown our cameras in the space station. alfonse owe core yon looked at those i bac back -- we did 22%

the u.s. in 300 theaters when it was open at probably 6 or 7,000. i think for us the longer-term implications are better. which means if you have don't have an imax theater in your town, you say i want to get into your business. >> what about china? is that also helping to drive the business? >> china is going very well for us. we have about 140 theaters open. keep in mind in the year 2000, i think we had three commercial theaters. it's been very rapid. if you look at our backlog, including some that are optioned so they're not firm, it's around 400 in china. we have 300 including the backlog and in the u.s. 330. so china eventually will be our biggest -- >> can i make a request to break out ticket revenue over volume. >> this year prices were pretty

steady. so that didn't really impact the box office. >> so people really are turning out for these movies. >> they really are going. i saw one of the tweets that said they'd rather wait in line for "hunger games" than do holiday shopping. i just wish they said at imax, that would have been a little bit better. >> the winter storm is causing big problems for travelers on the air and on the road. joining us live is reynolds wolf with more from buffalo, new york. good morning. >> reporter: hey, good morning, guys. last night we had about 3 to 5 inches of snowfall, right near the junction of state road 33 and this big swath of roadway. this is i-90, runs east/west, and we have quite a few cars moving right along right now. no major issues on the roadway. they had a lot of crews out last night pretreating these roads.

so people were traveling along with no major issue. but beyond this row of trees, you've got the airport and we've seen plenty of planes taking off and plenty of arrivals. so you have a lot of people there no doubt very, very happy. we really did dodge a bullet with this system. it could have been far more potent, could see seen quite a bit more snow and more headaches in this part of the world. the system diverged a bit. a lot of parts of the northeast may get more snowfall and though things are better in buffalo, we could still see headaches in pittsburgh, philadelphia, new york. we could see a bit more of this snowfall, mainly lake effect activity, maybe an inch or two as we get into the afternoon and evening hours. all right, let's pitch it over to my buddy simon. take it away.

>> all right. that was very comprehensive. stay safe. a look ahead at how america's largest retailers manages to keep its low price tags. and the housing market, how should you position yourself now going into thanksgiving and 2014. the one and only stock market veteran art cashin will join us right after the break. ♪ i love the way you move of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help

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welcome back to "squawk on the street." i'm bertha coombs at the nymex. we saw a drawndown of distalates, of 1.7 million barrels, bigger than expected and a bigger than expected build of 1.75 million barrels. we've got oil prices in terms of wti/nymex stabilizing. gasoline coming a bit, it had been hirer coming off the morning and a build in cushion in about 700,000 barrels. this is the tenth straight week we've seen inventory build as production continue as to outstrip demand. we're also watching technically as far as where the wti is going. traders are watching the fact

that brent crude is holding more steadily as wti declines this morning. we'll be back at noon with gas numbers out early because of the thanksgiving day holiday. back to you. >> amazed that crude is down 1.5% today. it's a pretty big move. we'll see if it lasts. >> it's the eve of thanksgiving, pretty big moves today. art cashin is here joining us with his perception of what's moving. art, good morning. >> good morning. >> first of all, is this window dressing? >> i wouldn't call it window dressing. it's not quite the end of the month. it might be turkey stuffing but it's probably not window dressing. years ago, decades ago, the day before thanksgiving and the day after had a very strong bias to the up side. it was very much like shooting fish in a barrel. the last ten years that's been a lot more muted. then again today the storm from the south and east coast may

have got i don't know a lot of people traveling early. i already sense the volume will be down probably 20% below where it was yesterday. >> hey, art, what did you make of these fresh figures that came out yesterday showing nyse margin debt reached another record high of $412 billion? >> it always is somewhat uncomfortable. we think back to the legend and myth that surrounds the 20s when everybody was in on margin. somewhat a different group of players today. and i think some of them may be closer to institutional than retail. but it bears watching, simon. but it's not -- >> as a danger or or is it because that is smart money betting that the stock market's going to rise from here, isn't it? >> well, smart money may not be smart money. that's always a misnomer. >> let me ask you a question. which is generally smarter money in history?

is it those trading on debts at the niyse, members or retail investors because both are piling in. >> smart money, i've seen plenty of people down here who weren't smart money either. i would make it the longer-term traders, people who look for particular situations and, you know, the almost warren buffett type, you know -- >> carl icahn. >> well, carl is -- he's a little more in and out than warren is. but everyone makes mistakes so -- >> yeah, i guess that's true. >> art, i think it was mark twain that said history doesn't repeat itself but it does tend to rhyme. you have a way with poetry. give me a little take here given your history on what we can expect. we're up 29% in the s&p this year, we're into the holiday season now. we have i don't know how many

trading days to go, but not that many. what does history tell us? >> interestingly enough you're up 29% and you say, wow, that's a rare occasion and over a hundred years, i haven't been trading for quite a hundred years yet. but over a hundred years, you will find that's into the quite as infrequent as you think, shows up about 20% of the time. and often it's coming back from a big selloff. i think that you have to be a little careful here. the fulcrum point will be the bond market. people will say everyone knows tapering is coming so it's priced in the market. it is not priced in the market. >> even the treasury guys are saying that. >> stock people, people on margin, running and panicking, i would be concerned about a spike in yields and rates as people try to run ahead of the fed and that would then spill over into

here and then, unfortunately, as the any year begins, our elected officials come back. >> i know. >> and we get to play that game all over again. so enjoy the holidays, rest, feel well, make sure the only turkey you go home with tonight is the one you're going to have tomorrow, okay? >> wise words. art cashin, thank you very much. great to see you this morning as always. >> many say walmart has the most sophisticated lodgist, system in retail but very few have actually seen how it works. our own courtney reagan got a look at walmart's labyrinth. >> reporter: the only way to succeed as the biggest retail ser to be the lowest cost player. if there was ever a time to get it right, it's during the holiday season. we were able to get a rare firsthand look as to how walmart gets those blockbusters in place for the black friday rush.

walmart's logistic excuse is central to its ability to keep prices low and stave off competition. this distribution center in pennsylvania services 97 stores in four states, as well .com orders. the company has had to further enhance its efficiency so distribution centers can help with .com fulfillment. >> as our efficiencies have increased and our ability to control inventory as a company, we require half of the inventory we used to require. it made good sense as a company to utilize that space and we do that through these e commercial centers we can have. >> this is 1 of 158 walmart distribution centers in the u.s. this one covers 1.2 million feet of square space, 17 miles of conveyor moving 18,000 cases per hour.

while much of the process is automated there,'s a critical human element as well. >> if you ever play tetris, it's the same thing, only we're the human version of it. >> reporter: gene is one of walmart's truck drivers logging more than 100,000 miles a year. the associates are ready knowing the moment the truck will arrive and greet it, prepped to unload its black friday merchandise. there have been some reports of empty shelves in walmart locations. walmart has responded and said inventory is into the an issue and its in-stock levels are around 97%. >> did you say 17 miles of conveyor belts? >> 17 miles. it was something to see in

person, pretty cool. >> up next, most retailers are buying into the black friday craze, some even opening their doors on thanksgiving day. kmart will be the first at 6:00 a.m. but one is saying no. find out why one furniture retailer is saying no to opening on thanksgiving day. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ tires screech ] chewley's finds itself in a sticky situation today after recalling its new gum. [ male announcer ] stick it to the market before you get stuck. get the most extensive charting wherever you are with the mobile trader app from td ameritrade.

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welcome back. people are buzzing about bitcoin again as it's broken above the $1,000 mark, trading at about 1,030. what's interesting is just how many bitcoin will exist? will there be a supply that will continue to go higher? >> it worries me an elaborate ponzi scheme gets as much attention as it does. david, from your 20 years of doing this, what does a chart like that indicate to you? >> it indicates a parabolic move up. >> and what happens to parabolic

moves up? >> often times they do come down. >> parabolically down. >> but home prices have never decreased. we know how that ended. >> hpa, home price appreciation. >> i'd rather invest in real estate than bitcoin. >> one furniture store is trying to take back the spirit of thanksgiving, advertising they will be closed on thanksgiving, going against many of the big retailers, like macy's and jcpenney, who for sure will be open tomorrow. joining us is the co-founder of mitchell's. how strongly do you feel about this? >> we strongly believe thanksgiving should be about family and friends. it's one of the few times people get a chance to sit around the table, break bread and

appreciate the things that have happened in the past year. >> it's 16 stores around the country, two internationally. >> it's kind of hard to tell. thanksgiving is a strange day for business, especially for furniture. we've always been closed on thanksgiving day so we have no numbers to compare. >> you guys are pretty upscale. a lot of the deals on a black friday or blue thursday, if you will, are aimed on pretty deep discounts. the furniture you are selling is often in the thousand dollars price range. is it your day anyway? is it that important for you guys? >> probably it's not the most important day in the world but, again, any day you're open is a day for business. the fact that we are being closed is significant. but we do strongly believe it's the day our employees should be able to have off and enjoy having time with family and friends. >> it interesting.

you obviously want to make the social point and indicate you won't be open for those who might go, but you're trying to make a point by taking out the full-page advert and make a political statement. yet if you look at who is opening tomorrow, 6:00 a.m. kmart, 8:00 a.m. family dollar, 9:00 a.m. old navy. those that are open through the day tomorrow are very much the value end, a type of customer that is not likely to be buying in your store. i would just wonder if in the same way as we say the company is split in many different directions. if -- >> there's going to be a lot of people at those stores, whether or not they're looking for value

or just shopping. to say it's high end or low end doesn't make that much difference. we decided to be closed on thanksgiving day. we support family value. we feel it's poor business and for the employees. we don't want people to feel they're missing out on something because they're not going to these stores. we really feel strong about family values and we want people to know being home and being around friends and family is important. >> does that mean uf don't go to the grocery store, fill up the gas tank, go to the movies, do those type of activities? >> i am going to to dinner on thanksgiving, steven and i and my mom and two of our best friends are going out for dinner. hopefully we'll have everything as far as at the grocery store and i did fill up gas on the way here so i'm not going to the gas station tomorrow. >> good to see you, sir.

thank you very much for joining us on the show. bob williams for mitchell gold joining us from charlotte. >> and amazon has been running ad all week. will it help the company's bottom line? we'll ask craig berman when he joins us in a little while. stay with us. back after a short break. tdd#: 1-888-648-6021 out there... in here. tdd#: 1-888-648-6021 out there, tdd#: 1-888-648-6021 there are stocks on the move. tdd#: 1-888-648-6021 in here, streetsmart edge has tdd#: 1-888-648-6021 chart pattern recognition tdd#: 1-888-648-6021 which shows you which ones are bullish or bearish. tdd#: 1-888-648-6021 now, earn 300 commission-free online trades. tdd#: 1-888-648-6021 call 1-888-648-6021 tdd#: 1-888-648-6021 or go to schwab.com/trading to learn how. tdd#: 1-888-648-6021 our trading specialists can tdd#: 1-888-648-6021 help you set up your platform. tdd#: 1-888-648-6021 because when your tools look the way you want tdd#: 1-888-648-6021 and work the way you think, you can trade at your best.

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welcome back to "squawk on the street." how about a little pre-thanksgiving takeover speculation? shares of swiss based engineering and construction company foster wheeler on the move to the upside after a reuters report that british engineering company amac was looking at this company as a possible takeover target. the report goes on to say that a potential deal would be around $8 billion, but the two companies, kelly, are not currently in talks. back over to you. >> okay, thank you, dom. we want to get over to the cme group, and rick santelli joins us with the "santelli exchange." good morning, rick. >> good morning, kelly. we're going to do something a

little different, and tomorrow being thanksgiving, and living in the greatest country with the greatest economy, with the greatest charitable people that donate so much, there's been articles about how much americans donate to various charities, we're a charitable people. when it comes to people's choice, there's a number of things that i find fascinating. you know, i'm not one for some of the reality shows or some of the really negative news stories that get so much press or air time. but it's about the people's choice. many of these issues couldn't exist if people didn't participate or sponsor them or, you know, in the case of newspapers and tv, watch them. but when it comes to thanksgiving or any of the big holidays, there's always this ongoing debate, as simon was discussing, about how appropriate it is to have employees not be able to spend that time with their families. and i think many viewers and listeners out there -- i know myself included -- in a bygone day had to work and had jobs that required them to work. but here's what i find fascinating.

here's the list for 2012, here's the list for 2013, that we compiled following different links on the website of the national retail federation, to try to find out exactly what entities are open. and what i find is that 2013 is a much bigger list, and many stores and businesses are trying to accommodate both worlds by opening later, some are opening at 6:00 p.m., some are opening at 10:00 p.m. some are opening at midnight. but the long and the short of it is, what really irks me is that the general media, like everything in life, you know, people are people, they pick sides. so, you know, you have the darlings of the media, like a starbucks -- starbucks is open. but then you have the really big employer, like walmart, over 2 million employees, boy, they don't get a lot of good press when it comes to being open holidays. i personally would like everybody to stay home. but i do think that there is something that be said for the notion that in our country -- a

free society -- that there's a competitive underpinning that has served our economic culture well. now, hopefully, everybody that's working tomorrow that doesn't want to will be able at some point in their lives move up the pecking order and maybe not have to. but in the end, people, if you feel strongly about it, you basically do your shopping and your voting with your feet. if you don't show up, eventually less stores will be open. if you show up, probably more stores will be open. but i do caution, don't lump everybody in one category, and we see it in every situation. and i'll leave on one final note. several months ago, before october 1st, everybody called the health care obama care, now it seems like somebody hit a switch. now it's referred to as the affordable care act. draw your own conclusions. i wish everybody to have a happy, healthy thanksgiving,

and, of course, that includes all of my peers at the best business channel on the planet, cnbc. kelly, back to you. >> thank you very much, rick. and a very happy thanksgiving to you from all of us here, as well. coming up on the program, amazon vice president craig berman will join us to tell us why the online giant is banking on a very successful black friday. deals and all, we'll be right back. ♪ yeah you really love, what would you do?" ♪ [ woman ] i'd be a writer. [ man ] i'd be a baker. [ woman ] i wanna be a pie maker. [ man ] i wanna be a pilot. [ woman ] i'd be an architect. what if i told you someone could pay you and what if that person were you? ♪ when you think about it, isn't that what retirement should be, paying ourselves to do what we love?

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and welcome back. we want to, of course, keep a close eye on markets on this quieter day. it's not a shortened session. friday, we will see an early close. but it does feel like that as we head into the afternoon. we asked art cashin if there was a window-dressing effect, and he said, not so sure. he thinks there might be some real lift behind some of the better data we saw this morning, as well. >> i thought the key thing he said is interesting, of course, keep an eye on the 10-year. >> sure. >> we'll be talking about your favorite subject, i would have a feeling, over the next five week, namely the taper, and/or tightening, or however you want to view it and what it will mean and how people will react. >> payrolls is a week on friday.

payrolls, fomc before christmas, and then the christmas closing, whatever that means in terms of positioning. >> and it always seems to be the case, payrolls will be important in time, because the expectations have come down a little bit. there's mixed consensus out there about how the consumer is doing. >> and he was adamant that tapering is not factored into the market. that's very unusual for art to say, as strongly as he did. >> meanwhile, a parade tomorrow. have you been simon? >> no, i watch it on television. >> you can look out your window practically. >> it's nice. it's fun. >> you're going to tomorrow, won't you? >> i will probably swing by. a friend's going. >> the balloons going up or down? >> i'm curious to see what happens with sea world. >> sorry? >> yeah, sea world, because of the "black fish" documentary, has taken a lot of heat, macy's has, including a float with the -- >> live animals? >> no, just to support the -- >> the shy winds, of course, will be more of a concern, if there is high winds. tomorrow, it may be cold. not sure.

make sure everybody is holding on tight, or damage has been done. >> a macy's spokesman says decision on how high the balloons will be will be based on realtime on the scene weather data, no the on forecasts. obviously, a high-tech experience. >> take it up, mates? no, take it down! too windy! >> i didn't know the english worked at the macy's weather center. >> i can't do american accents. >> probably not to try, as well. if you're just joining us, here's what you might have missed on the show earlier on. >> announcer: welcome to "squawk on the street." here's what's happened so far. >> if you have a little bit of cash, you should probably keep it and wait and see if the correction occurs. but if you have a lot of cash, i think you probably participate in this market. you don't stay out of the market waiting for the moment of truth. survey says for october, durable goods down 2%. now, that isn't a good thing, but it did match the

expectations of down 2%. so it's an important year, and we've laid the foundation, right? we're two years into our five-year turnaround, and i'm pleased that 2013 was capped by a good, strong, solid quarter for hp. >> it's a hugely, highly levered transaction, blackstone and john gray, who runs real estate, managed to refinance, managed to do a lot of different things, and now this will be a home run. i don't think that's too much of a stretch toer blackstone. [ bell sounds ] >> we have more people employed today than we did a year ago, and the economy does seem to be getting better, a little bit every single day. so we're encouraged by the overall consumer sentiment heading into this holiday season. >> i think would he have a decent idea in different countries, where it will go. one thing, if you could predict movies, it's like predicting the stock market. it's very difficult to do. there are movies that just don't perform, and the ones that break

out. ♪ good morning. if you're just joining us, we're live at post 9 at the new york stock exchange. let's have a change on where we are with the markets. the nasdaq today on track for its third consecutive monthly increase, up over 12%. as it opens at a new 13-year high. on the s&p, we have 40 new all-time high stocks and five at new all-time lows. meanwhile, shares of hewlett-packard are a real standout, rallying after strong fourth quarter earnings beat analysts' expectations. hp's profit and revenue beat estimates, and certainly the profit beat estimates, led by an increase -- aggressive increase in enterprise sales, and stay tuned, we'll have more on hp later in this hour in the wake of the exclusive interview with ceo meg whitman. shares of tivo slipping this morning after net income fell 19% in the third quarter.

it wasn't all bad news. tivo's profit and revenue did beat analysts' estimates and they benefited in an increase in settop boxes. let's get to the roadmap. today is the busiest travel day of the year. it's time to start worrying about the weather. a massive storm moving through the east coast, and it could have a major impact on thanksgiving travel. keep it here. we'll tell you exactly what you should expect going forward. plus, as we move closer to black friday, retailers are getting an early start on holiday deals. we'll talk directly to amazon and hsn to see what's on sale. and meg whitman is speaking exclusively to us this morning. stay tuned, because we'll get you the most important things she had to say in a few minutes. we start with rather a major storm, barrelling its way towards the east coast, or across the east coast now, threatening to wreck the over 40 million people's traveling plans, who are up for traveling this weekend. so how are things looking so far? kayla tausche is live at newark airport, which, actually, has

looked quite quiet all morning, kayla. >> reporter: you know, it has, simon. we've had pockets of busyness here and there. foot traffic has been picking up. very steadily on what is the busiest travel day of the year. unfortunately, cancellations as well as delays have also been picking up, and at a more rapid pace. according to flightaware, 485 flights have been delayed -- cancelled. but here at newark, 31 flights cancelled. that's more of any new york-area airport. united the big hub here. they said they will waive the change fee for any customer that needs to rebook that flight. that's obviously, a change in policy for the airairlines, cancellations can be costly. the costs won't be estimatable for some time. in 2012, delays cost $7.2 billion in operating income. that breaks down to about $78

for every minute of delays, and for customers, as well, some of them will be seeing some costs in the near term as they're hold up at some of the airports. take a listen. >> depending on how long we're delayed, we could drop a couple hundred bucks. i'm hoping just an hour, hour and 15 minutes, two hours most. but whatever. i'm not working, so i'm relaxed. and in for the long haul. >> reporter: some good spirits from ryan gardner from the greater philadelphia area. a couple hundred bucks, it sounds like a good time to me, for someone who's delayed. but not everyone will be in those good spirits. we have a presser going on right now from the port authority of new jersey and new york that's basically laying the state of travel for the rest of the afternoon. it is expected to worsen. and as the numbers change, we'll bring the latest to you. back to you. >> kayla, good morning. just a quick question, last night, the area saw terrible snarl-ups, whether the trains getting out of penn station, grand central, people on their commutes home, just generally in

their cars. do you think there's a sense of frontrunning, that the traffic was pulled forward because people were getting an early jump on getting out of the area? >> reporter: i think there was, kelly. and a lot of the staff said yesterday was far busier than today. a lot of people trying to change their flight, change their travel plans to get out ahead. because of the scale of the storm, i mean, we were seeing cancellations across the board. 600 on monday. more than 500 yesterday. so this has really been a trend for the last several days. today is expected to bear the worst of it because it's on the eastern seaboard, such a busy area. a lot of people have been trying to get out ahead of this. some have delayed until tomorrow morning. but for everyone, it's not really an option. >> absolutely. kayla tausche this morning from the newark airport. thanks. okay. take a look at the nasdaq. right now, trading well above, or comfortably above 4,000, as you can see. this is a fresh 13-year high after it crossed 4,000 for the first time trading yesterday. so will the momentum hold, and

how should you position your portfolio now heading towards the end of the year? quincy crosby is a market strategist with prudential financial, which has a trillion dollars under asset management. adam lance joins us, as well. what are you telling investors now, adam? >> well, i think it's a matter of getting into the right areas. a year ago, simon, everybody thought that supervalue was uncompetitive, the stock was down to $2, best buy was just a -- as far as showroom for amazon.com, and nokia, everybody was writing off. those three stocks are among the best performers this year. and i think you could see the same thing. you know, instead of chasing the teslas and many of the companies that have done so well, what we're telling our investors is, you know, buy where there's value and lesser risk, where you can still get good appreciation. >> i mean -- >> we see that in a nuance communications, you know, which is hitting a new low.

healthcare reits, and, also, a company like compuware, yielding 4%, 5%, so that's a good place to be in the market, for those getting slightly overvalued. >> we keep talking about the nasdaq surge, which has been driven, as you infer, by the likes of tesla and netflix. and we've seen the temptation to book profits on those winners so far. are you really against people holding those stocks? would you go as far as to say they may be in bubble territory? >> yeah, i think they are. i think they are. we haven't been bold enough in the long/short portfolio, simon, to short these, just because, you know, there's crazy momentum involved, and you get that emotion with investors. so they're too risky to short. we definitely wouldn't own them as far at these levels, and profit-taking is warranted. and boy invest in the companies that have lesser expectations and, therefore, lesser risks.

>> quincy, is he right? >> well, you know, it's very difficult -- i mean, it's risky to be in and risky to be out of the market right now. december is probably the sweetest spot for the market all year. it is the best performing month of the year. and so, momentum can continue, but what you're going to see happen is as managers, hedge fund managers, mutual fund managers, make their performance numbers, they'll start to lock in, so they don't jeopardize that performance. but i will say that it is definitely a -- >> hang on. hang on, quincy. hang on. now you've confused me, because you started off by saying december is usually a good month. >> it is. >> the market rallies. and then you're saying to me, actually, the big-fund managers might lock in profits, which means they'd be sellers, which could bring the market down. i'm not sure where you're taking me. >> no, no, no, they're not going to necessarily sell. they'll put -- they'll put hedges on their portfolio. but the point is, you can see

from the credit market, the two-year swap spreads have really collapsed. it's telling you that this is a market that is still risk-on. and until you have a change in landscape, most managers do not want to fight it. so you've got the financials doing well. you've got the high-beta names doing well. industrials are doing well. you've got consumer cyclicals doing well. it is telling you it is a market that wants to keep december in positive territory. statistically, it is a very good bet. but again, you're going to see derivatives used in this market. >> well, yes, that also is the case. alan, the simple strategy for a stock investor here, could have been just follow the buybacks. do you think that continues next year? >> yeah, i think so. i think, you know, try to reduce risk, you know, take some money off the table. i agree with quincy, you know, the market -- the momentum is there, the market is probably going to head higher, maybe even

through march, you know, through tapering. but there's just more risk as it moves up. and, therefore, you know, stick with companies that are buying back shares. stick with companies with good balance sheets, and if you can get those, like i mentioned, trading near their lows rather than reaching, and are at historical highs, i think you've lessened the risk, and you can ride the wave of the market. >> have a great thanksgiving, guys. thank you for joining us. >> happy thanksgiving. >> enjoy. >> you, too. now, black friday just a couple of days away. amazon, though, isn't waiting until then. the online retailers has been running black friday promotions all week. is a week of deals good for amazon's bottom line? we'll ask the company's vice president craig berman in just a moment. first, though, rick santelli, what else are you keeping an eye on today? >> i tell you what. would he have a first-ever guest today, mike newton. i've convinced a source to turn into a guest. and he has an accent -- u.k. accent. but here's what we'll discuss. how can the rest of asia outside

of japan put up with a weak yen? how will it end for the fed? and maybe the most important question out there, is how are higher rates going to play out slash impact emerging markets? bottom of the hour, you won't want to miss first-ever cnbc mike newton. planes don't fly any faster. but it sure feels that way. because with power ports... and wi-fi... and in-seat entertainment, for everyone on board, now when you fly, time flies too. (flight attendant) sir, we're about to land. (vo) we're adding a brand new plane, with all this, every week. it's just one way we're building the new american. [ bagpipes and drums playing over ] [ music transitions to rock ]

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the s&p 500. dominic chu is back at hq with more on that. >> for right now, simon, it is the best-performing sector. the real question, or the real issue for this, it's a tale of two companies for the technology sector and the s&p. on the one hand, you have hp, hewlett-packa hewlett-packard. the tech giant, you've been talking about it all morning, coming up with results that beat expectations. yes, that stock is the best performing stock in that sector. but there is, also, the worst performing sector in that sector, analog devices. it's a company that makes digital processing circuits. the company down about 6% on the heels of an earnings beat, but a sales and current quarter forecast that missed analysts' expectations, so it looks like they're accentuating the positive with the hp and neglecting a little on analog devices. >> all right. thank you, dom. let's get back to the weather and see what conditions are like on the ground. the weather channel's reynolds wolf rejoins us, we should say,

from buffalo, with more. reynolds, tell us what the developments in the last hour have been. >> really, no developments at all. i mean, it's actually quite nice out here. we have had had not much in terms of snowfall. we did have three to five inches during the overnight hours, and much of that, you can see around me. there are higher amounts in parts of buffalo, out near the stadium, where the bills play, about 10 inches of snowfall. as a rule, that's it. you see the truck with the plow that's going by. they've been out in force along parts of 90, which you see behind me. [ car horn ] they've been treating the pavement, the pavement is in terrific condition. people are driving by, and it is fine. now, let's be honest here. 3 to 5 inches of snowfall in buffalo, not a big deal at all. what is a big deal, though, is when you have that kind of precipitation, and then you have this glut of travelers on i-90, out at the airport. all across the eastern seaboard. in fact, the united states alone, let's see, i think over 43 million people will be out

and about traveling to go visit relatives and loved ones during the thanksgiving season. so, yeah. roads will be busy. again, conditions look fine here. at the airport, planes are taking off with no major problems. however, we do have delays that have been reported back in new york, back at la guardia, jfk, even in newark, so headaches are to be dealt with out there. in terms of snowfall, back here in buffalo, we might see a few more lake-effect snow showers, and that will spell out to the tune of perhaps 1 to 2 inches of snow, nothing to beep about -- [ car horn ] -- no question. >> i think bills fans want to know if there are bon jovi sightings, so please keep us posted. reynolds wolf from weather channel. >> you bet. one day wasn't enough for amazon to celebrate black friday. they made it a week-long celebration, kicking off the sales on monday, and some include the samsung galaxy phones for $260 off, barbies, espresso coffee machines for half off. items are updated every 10

minutes. joining us with more is craig berman, vice president with the company. craig, good morning. welcome. >> good morning, happy thanksgiving. >> is this the first year you've done 10-minute increment for the new deals? >> this is the fastest we've had deals cascading and cycling through over the course of black friday, and we'll repeat that again on cyber monday. again, this week, it really has become a season. it's not just a day of -- one day of black friday, or one day of cyber monday anymore. it has really become a week. we started -- actually, we launched a day early this year, last sunday. we'll see -- have seen great traffic, a lot of customers are getting their shopping done thus far this week, and black friday will be big, and cyber monday, last year, was the biggest day. >> i imagine some of this has to be because the holiday season is six days short, so maybe trying to lengthen it out a little bit by adding days before black friday, plus you have sunday delivery in some places, including new york, will all of that help? >> so we're going to do what we can to make it easy for

customers to get their shopping done. you're talking about the weather today. i would expect a lot of folks are staying home and probably getting some shopping done online. then it's up to us to make sure we are able to get the products onto the doorsteps -- >> is weather measurably good for you, then, bad weather? >> weather can impact us. you know, we've really developed this distributed network of what we call fulfillment center, over 40 in the u.s. and that allows us, you know, shift orders around, and we work with lots of different partners to vary the capacity -- >> and you know what -- >> you mentioned the sunday delivery. the relationship with u.s. postal service is fun to see in new york and l.a. >> well, fun, but also the issue we've been discussing today about employees working on the holidays, whether it's a sunday or thanksgiving. people should know if they're ordering something online, there's a high likelihood the

worker could be working on thanksgiving, even as the ire has been raised for other retailers that have been opening -- >> we've always been open on thanksgiving. and we staffed up this year with hiring 70,000 seasonal employees across the fulfillment centers in the u.s. those are going to carry through. they're great jobs. we hire a lot of students, a lot of retirees who just want to make some extra money for the holidays. and that helps us handle the variations and the buying spike we get in q4. >> just to come back to the streaming offers, how many of the products that we just saw are you selling at a profit? what proportion are actually profitable for you? >> well, you know, we're a for-profit business. >> you don't make much profits, because you're often investing for the long term. are you deliberately trying to undercut best buy? >> what we're doing, simon, during the stray tegy of the

holiday, we scout circulars, and our goal is to meet or beat them. you know, our low-cost business model, the fact we can distribute a significant -- a huge volume of product into our buildings, some of them are 1.2 million square feet. courtney will be with us in phoenix on monday to see one of our buildings. it allows us to pass the savings on. >> i imagine you looked down the list and you know what the best offer is. what's the best -- what's best offer from amazon this year? >> there will be amazing offers. >> on -- on -- on tvs. >> on tvs. on noise-cancelling headphones. >> could i miss them? could they come and i miss them? or all of the good ones come at the end? >> you need to keep checking. every day, right? >> no. >> checking every day. you know, kindles are always going to be there. kindles will be a big seller this year. we expect to sell millions of kindles. in fact, we're seeing a lot of households now purchasing

multiple kindles, and -- >> that's just a company advert for kindle -- shameless. shameless. >> craig, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> i really appreciate your time. have a great thanksgiving. >> you, too. >> next time, bring jeff bezos with you. next, hp's meg whitman, we'll tell you what she had to say on a big stock that's rallying, next.

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shares of hewlett-packard are trading substantially higher as you can see this morning following last night's earnings release. they beat estimates by a penny, and the revenue was above analysts' forecasts. we spoke earlier to ceo meg whitman. take a listen. >> our strength, of course, is with the enterprise and small to medium business.

we have a tremendous channel network, a partner network, value-added resellers we call them, that's a big part of the overall distribution, and that's a strength of hp dploeglobally, we want to capitalize on that as we think about that business. >> jon fortt joins us with the reaction in the wake of the wults there, jon. >> yeah, it's interesting. they beat expectations but they're still not growing revenues. a big part of what they were able to do was take away some of the profit and sell more units. we probably saw some opportunity there with uncertainty around dell, some others that have been backing away from the less-profitable pcs, and same thing in servers, selling less profitable servers. so she's managed very well to bail out the sinking ship. now, can she get it moving in a more positive direction? we're not really seeing that so much. networking and storage did well. networking, particularly, in china, where a lot of other people aren't doing well. but they've got a lot of headwinds still, that's why

she's keeping the barlo low, dot expect any growth in 2014. >> it's one thing if the shares lagged, and then pop. but to pop after being one of the better performers in the s&p 500, it's extraordinary. is it the cash generation that has everyone so excited? >> part of what happened is the shares tanked after early august when meg whitman first came out and said, hey, look, we're not going to grow in 2014 like i had said we might. she threw a lot of the bad news out then. some others, like cisco, let the bad news dribble out slowly. that's why they're continuing to get hit now. that's why hp is looking better than people expected. >> take the pain. it appears to be the strategy. >> that's right. yank the tooth out. >> still extraordinary, no growth next year, and we're talking -- maybe they're just the best player in a tough space. i don't know. >> they're cutting a lot, and they're generating cash. so that's worth something. >> all right. jon fortt, thank you, sir. >> yeah. coming up today, an

important day for europe, news out of germany and italy, could have a major impact on markets, including back here at home. we'll get you on the detail of the close with simon when we come back. ♪ ♪ you get your coffee here. you get your hair cut here. you find that certain thing you were looking for here, but actually you get so much more. when you shop at these small local businesses, you support all the things that make your community great. the money you spend here, stays here. in this place you call your neighborhood. this saturday is small business saturday. get out and shop small.

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and you'll see that europe is heading into the close, green across the board. the u.k. confirmed as the fastest growing economy in the developed world. third quarter gdp rising at an annualized rate of 3.2%. german confidence notably higher last month, now at a six-year high, and we rally into the close, as you can see. notable that the italian banks are doing well. there is a report in the german press that the european central bank may be about to extend the ltros. remember that trillion euros of cheap cash that the weaker banks are sitting on? well, it looks like, according to this report, that they could have another bout of ltros, albeit with tighter conditions attached. now, in italy, importantly, last night the existing coalition won a confidence motion on their budget for next year. you'll remember that berlusconi's party had split

off, but they got that through. it's still a little bit shaky over in italy, and importantly now, possibly within minutes, we may get a vote from the italian senate that will basically eject berlusconi from the senate. that is important, because it will mean that he loses his immunity from prosecution, and he could end up either on house arrest or behind bars for the various court cases that are against him. in germany, a breakthrough there politically. after two months of negotiation, angela merkel has finally been able to do a deal to form a coalition government with her archrivals, in fact, the spd. this will, if it goes through, include 23 billion euros of extra spending. that's good for europe. it will also mean a transaction tax on currency trades, and, also, on derivatives. but first, the spd has to pass that through the members, and that could be, they say, a tricky vote. finally, going over to london, where prince william stunned

guests at the winter whites gala at kensington palace last night when he perform add duet with jon bon jovi. let's listen in to the future king of england. ♪ livin' on a prayer we'll make it i swear ♪ >> perhaps a reminder to us all, a pleasant reminder, not to drink too much this thanksgiving. [ laughter ] kelly? >> that will be us in a couple of days with any luck. let's bring in mary thompson with a look at what's moving at the nyse. >> the record run continues. we see modest moves for the dow into new territory. the moves for the nasdaq into multiyear highs has been more aggressive, and no change in that theme today in the holiday-shortened week. what's helped out today is the data pretty much positive on jobless claims, the chicago pmi, and consumer sentiment. new orders weak, but the positive certainly outweighing the negative from today's data. let's look at some of the

leaders and laggards among the s&p groups that we follow. tech, specifically big-cap tech, is a winner today. so that's helping to drive the markets higher and we're seeing strength in industrials, weakness in the energy stocks. the big-cap tech stocks led by hewlett-packard after reporting those better-than-expected numbers. but we do see weakness in one area of tech. that being semiconductors. that is a weak area today in large part because analog devices, a maker of chips, going into a wide variety of electronic devices, came out and said that the current quarter will see seasonal slowness, and that's put pressure on the rest of the group today. that's one area of weakness in an otherwise up market. back to you. >> thank you very much, mary. of course, a lot of data was crammed in this morning. let's get to rick santelli in chicago for how things are looking there. rick? >> well, thank you, simon. and i'd like to welcome my guest, mike newton. mike has worked at some of the largest hedge funds in the world, a of sstaffer at the ban

england, and a great pedigree. thank you for taking the time. >> rick, thank you for having me on the show. i want to apologize everybody for prince william's singing. had it been prince harry up there, the nation's favorite, he would have been much more enjoyable. >> listen, mike, when it comes to the fed, nobody pays more attention than you do. can you tell me in your opinion how do you think it's going to all end for the u.s. central bank? >> well, i think in extreme difficulty. now, i have a lot of respect for the people at the fed. they've had an incredibly tough time over the past few years. a lot of smart, dedicated staffers there. but having worked at the bank of england, i know sitting inside the central bank, you often are under a lot of pressure from various different angles, and you don't always end up getting it right. you don't have a perfect forecasting model for the economy. it can be difficult to drive. the big risk for the fed is that the economy recovers much more strongly than people expect, and the accommodation has to be withdrawn much faster. i can see a scenario next year

where u.s. rates go up quite a lot, the tapering has to take place much more quickly due to the strength of the u.s. data than people think, and the forward guidance at some point has to get rolled back. i know that's quite an aggressive view, but there's a danger here the fed ends up being behind the curve. i know from my contacts there, they are worrying already about the size of the balance sheet, and i think if they have an excuse from the data to take a more aggressive point than expected then i think -- >> mike, that is a very interesting view. because i'll tell you what, the popular trade is curve steepening. if what you say comes to pass, i would say that you're going to go from steepening to flattening pretty quick. all right. second topic. when it comes to the dollar-yen, nobody pays more attention than the people on this trading floor, and we've definitely seen close to $1.02 test on the green back, but not only the u.s. currency. how is asia outside of japan going to cope with the weaker

yen in your opinion? >> yeah. i think this is very interesting. it's something that's not on investors' radar screens right now. but it will be at some point. look, i think if you look at how the asian currencies have performed against the yen, since the yen policy began, then you've seen a 35% gain in the value of the chinese yuan, and gains by the taiwan dollar. and the equity markets have performed extremely weakly. you can see a scenario where if we get to new highs on the yen, the other asian countries will get fed up with a weak yen still in their export markets. and i understand all of the arguments about there's not a 100% overlap in the exports markets of the different countries versus japan. but there is some export overlap, and it will start eating into margins more than ever the weaker the yen gets, and let's think about the political angle here. now, what's happened, i think,

recently, with the senkaku islands, and the defense zone that the chinese put in place, could be relevant for markets going forward. you know, we've seen yesterday when we sent the b-52s on a joyride over, there will be some pressure from the chinese relative to japan. if they weaken the yen further, at some point, china may react with a weaker yuan. >> well, we're going to end it there and we'll grab you back in a couple of weeks. thanks for being our guest. have a happy and healthy thanksgiving, mike. >> that's all right. take care. >> all right. back to kelly. >> thank you very much. rick. it feels like the holiday season is starting earlier and earlier. you can thank the retailers, in fact. the ceo of hsn says its holiday season started back on october 5th. does starting the holiday early help retail? we'll ask mindy grossmann in just a moment. plus, are you lonesome this holiday season? don't be sad about it, just hire your own cuddler. jane wells explains in

huntington beach, california. jane? >> kelly, if you need a hug, you grab a pillow, find a dog, or pay samantha hess $60 an animal -- [ laughter ] -- an hour. an animal! she embraces professional cuddling. would you like the tandem bicycle and come to mama? we'll have that later on "squawk on the street," animals or otherwise. (announcer) at scottrade, our clients trade and invest exactly how they want. with scottrade's online banking, i get one view of my bank and brokerage accounts with one login... to easily move my money when i need to. plus, when i call my local scottrade office, i can talk to someone who knows how i trade. because i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) scottrade-proud to be ranked "best overall client experience." you can fill that box and pay one flat rate.

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coming up on the "halftime" show, don't let the winter storm dampen your profits. we have all of the plays that could be hurt and helped by the extreme weather. we're hunting for bargains in this record-setting market. larry mcdonnell is here to make his case for buying the beaten-up stocks. and who will win the holiday season, fedex or u.p.s.? we're gearing up for a heated debate on which one will deliver for your portfolio. simon, we'll see you in a few. >> okay, thank you very much. some retailers have gotten an early start on the holidays by offering products and deals even earlier than thanksgiving or black friday. hsn, sells to consumers through its home shopping tv network, and online launched its holiday back on october 5th, and is offering deals typically reserved for black friday for customers who shop on their mobile phones. mindy grossman, joins us, the

ceo of hsn. welcome to the program. nice to see you. >> hi, simon. how are you? >> i'm good. i'm interested into how the holiday season is shaping up for you as things stand at the moment? and what decisions you've made this year to do it differently. >> well, as you mentioned, we kicked off the holiday season early october, and we had very specific strategies daily leading up to christmas, and made sure that we're giving the customer value, we're giving her uniqueness. she's definitely on the hunt. and what we wanted to do early on was get that share of wallet when she was thinking about spending. and especially now going into the critical thanksgiving weekend, we kicked off our "deal deals" today for presales, everything from beatz headphone, to ipad airs, launched the flex pay store on november 24th. so we have the unique ability to

let our customer buy on flex pay. so we're really giving her a reason to shop with us. >> you know, mindy, you know your business far better than i do. i would have thought there is more value, more margin, more profit in innovating on the type of stuff that you're selling, and selling something that nobody else is selling, rather than -- rather than, you know, selling the same as everybody else, and having to compete on price. and i'm looking in particular at the keith urban guitar collection, which i think you had proprietary start, and it did really well for you. >> you make a great point. over 70% of all of the products we sell are proprietary to us. and keith urban was a great example, on november 5th, we had the exclusive launch of the keith urban guitars and learn to play. 20,000 guitars in less than five hours. and it was engaging, it was entertaining, and when the customer got that home, they knew they couldn't get it anywhere else.

and we're going to continue to drive to that uniqueness. now, there's certain categories, like technology, that the consumer does want brands. so we have to be cognizant of that, and offer her a great value across our entire spectrum. >> true. mindy, i'm curious, because the "journal" had a timely reminder of this, but the discounts we're seeing are built into the retail price. for you guys, i mean, is it true discounting in the sense that the price that you would like to sell these items at is the actual price, or is it the price that you know you're going to mark it down to for black friday? >> you know, our model is very different. we look for uniqueness in value every day. and if we don't sell -- if they don't buy it today, that price is going up. so we look at every category and what is going to create greatest demand. price, flex pay, shipping and handling, and we use all of that. the other weapon in our arsenal is how aggressive we've been in

our mobile platform. we're seeing over 12% of our sales now come through mobile. so we have exclusive offers. we have a great experience, and i think what you also have to recognize today is that you have to make the shopping experience as seamless, as easy, and as direct as possible. and you have to execute. so, again, it's got to be value. it's got to be unique. and it has to be accessible and executable. >> just before we let you go, mindy, you keep using the word "she." is it only women that really shop with you? >> no, it's not. but she does represent 85%. >> all right. >> of our customers. and she probably influences even more than that. so we love men, too. but we know who's really shopping. >> it's good to see you, mindy. have a great thanksgiving. thank you for joining us. mindy grossman, the ceo of hsn. >> thank you. have a nice thanksgiving. >> thank you. we have breaking news coming

through from rome. silvio berlusconi has been expelled from the senate by the senate. this is a major move for italian politics. it basically means that the 77-year-old is no longer immune from the italian magistrates who are chasing him on so many different fronts. the man will probably end up behind house arrest at some stage, they say, if not possibly behind bars. >> all right. now, if you're lonesome tonight, there is an easy solution, and it's called a hire a cuddle service. jane wells joins us now to explain, as only she can, live from huntington beach, california. jane? >> you know, kelly, jim cantore wishes he was here right now. you may be in some office somewhere folks, back out east, but here, folks are doing beach volleyball, personal trainer action. they say you have to do what you love, love what you do. samantha has loves love, a

professional cuddler, and she has so much work, she has more work than she can get her arms around. >> i feel great. >> reporter: tes is a 29-year-old from portland, oregon, who got the idea of paying to cuddle after seeing a guy sell hugs for $2. hello, this is the city with the motto, keep portland weird. she charges 60 bucks an hour, $300 to stay overnight. no funny business, she says, or she will leave. clients range from mid-20s to mid-60s, all sizes, genders, reasons, relationships. they snuggle into positions like the tandem bicycle and the come to mama. hes' website, cuddleuptome, and she's now making more money than she did in any previous job. she hopes to hire six people, open a retail store, and paying a lawyer to make sure there's no legal problems. she meets clients in advance, and they sign a waiver, with clothes being mandatory. her goal is to encourage a

positive view of platonic touch. i said, what happens when a customer has, you know, an unintended response? she said natural reactions will occur. sometimes you have as much scroll over that as a sneeze. we just move positions. also, a third party is always notified. she calls that person afterwards with a special safe word. and this being portland, i'm not sure if the safe word is kakaw, the word made famous in "portla "portlandia." >> you know it will end in tears, don't you, jane? 60 bucks an hour -- >> just give each other a ug had. >> that's a very good idea, but we'll do it after the show. jane, thank you. jane wells, in california. >> yeah, yeah. >> no, no, no, no. >> fine. today's breakthrough is getting recognition in "the new york times." in a recent review, the paper called this website, quote, orgy

of visual pleasure. are you getting the theme? we'll tell you what that means next.

breaking news coming from rome. the italian senate has eye proved the expulsion of the former prime minister silvio berlusconi. from parliament. machel caruso carrera joins us with more on the breaking news. it's important, now, because he will not be immune from incarceration for all of the allegations against him? >> yeah, absolutely. he has faced so many issues,

legal issues in his life, simon, when it comes to issues with prostitutes, with corruption, with abuse of power, et cetera. he's been prosecuted over and over again, has never had to serve any sentences. now, he can very well serve house arrest. of course, that would be the palazzo of grand scale, but still, berlusconi, in what is a watershed moment for italy, has been ousted from the senate after dominating italian politics for decades. i would hesitate, though, to count him out. he still remains an enormous amount of power. he is still extremely popular in italy. and he could very well come back again. he's had more lives than ten cats, and i wouldn't be surprised if he tries once again to try to run for government in the future, because they're going to have a very uneasy coalition, and they're trying to get passage of various numbers of reforms that will be very controversial. >> in the meantime, it is an indication, though, that he's lost political support from the

center right, michelle. >> oh, yes. >> the rump of his own party may still be there, may have left the ground coalition, but he's not the man he was. he doesn't clearly wield the power or the threat that he once did. >> no, he doesn't. and part of the reason may be, because when he was in power, he very rarely achieved many of the things that he said he was going to do, in terms of liberalizing the economy so the labor laws wouldn't be as strict, for example. things that should have been done that would help italy grow, but he never really achieved. >> okay, michelle, thank you. michelle caruso-cabrera on the breaking news from italy. and coming up next, it's the company "the new york times" described as an orgy of visual pleasure. more on good eggs when we come back. you get your hair cut here. you find that certain thing you were looking for here, but actually you get so much more. when you shop at these small local businesses, you support all the things that make your community great.

the money you spend here, stays here. in this place you call your neighborhood. this saturday is small business saturday. get out and shop small. i have obligations. cute tobligations, but obligations.g. i need to rethink the core of my portfolio. what i really need is sleep. introducing the ishares core, building blocks for the heart of your portfolio. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal. ♪

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and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. (aaron) purrrfect. (vo) meee-ow, business pro. meee-ow. go national. go like a pro. welcome back. and today, the website of the breakthrough has been described by "the new york times" as an orgy of visual pleasure, good eggs partners with farmers and food makers to create an online marketplace where customer disbuy high-quality food this their communities. joining sus rob spiro, the ceo and founder of good eggs. good morning to you. >> good morning. thanks for having me. >> thank you for being here.

to make sure we understand the concept, this is basically taking a fresh direct, when you can order from a grocery store, online. but narrowing the selection to proprietors in your area, and, you know, adhere to a certain set of rules that you guys have, is that right? >> yeah, good eggs is a full-service grocery that delivers to your door, and 100% of the food is amazing, because it's all made fresh daily by local farmers and local food makers. >> rob, i understand you were involved with aardvark, the q&a search engine google bought for around $50 million a while back. does that make you more or less willing to maybe partner up, or even get bought eventually, by a bigger name. obviously, amazon is interested in this space, there are also other names, very much interested. in the online grocery space. >> yeah, we're really not interested in that. this is a very different kind of entry. we're trying to have a huge impact on health, environment, people's eating. it's hard to do that if you're not independent and pursuing a

vision that we have of growing and sustaining local food systems worldwide. >> it's interesting question, rob, as to scale. because right now, if you get on a site, you can choose from four options, basically, the san francisco bay, brooklyn, los angeles, or new orleans for the service. i imagine you'd like to make it available to many more parts of the country. what's the best way to do so? >> well, next year, we'll be rolling out in cities across the country. really, with each city, we're partnering with the best local farms, best independent food makers making this delicious. the same folks you'd find at a farmers' market, but here able to offer full-service grocery with meats, seafoods, breads, prepared meals. we partner with them on the ground. we build the distribution hub, our food hub, and we're able to provide home deliveries five days a week. >> rob, forgive me for asking the european nanny state question here, but how do you -- what is your liability here? how do you know that the seafood or the meat is going to be okay, or are you putting yourselves legally in the middle of what might be quite a costly legal

challenge if something, god forbid, went wrong? you're not controlling the supply chain here, are you? >> no, but each of the producers is independently certified and independently regulated by city and state and federal regulatory bodies. and so, we're just carrying those folks that already have their licenses. actually, the food you get through good eggs is so much higher quality. and you're talking about meats and seafoods and the stuff, and good eggs is so much higher integrity, you can trust the quality and safety a lot more. >> rob, real quick, what is the main technology challenge that you're solving here? >> well, what's neat about good eggs is that you are clicking a button online, and then actually real food shows up at your door. it's the magical experience. and in order to deliver that, you need to build logistics business. and so, that's what we're building. it's a tech-driven low guegisti

business for food, fleets of vehicle are connecting the shopper at home with this great food. >> well, incredibly complex behind the scenes, an orgy for people perusing online, thank you very much for joining us. good luck with it. >> thank you. >> jon, you going to be ordering? >> absolutely. as soon as it's available where i am. >> in new york city, that's right. thank you, guys, so much for joining us. it's now time for "the half." all right, kel, thank you so much. here's what we're following today -- holiday havoc. the latest on the storm, the impact on shopping and the stocks that could take off or get grounded. special delivery. is u.p.s. or fedex packaged for perfection? our traders debate it ahead. we do begin with the hunt for bargains, not in the mall, but in the markets. so where is the value? is it even in the u.s.? it is "halftime." let's play the action. josh, we start with you. go bargain shopping for me. >> i'm going to throw two at you very quickly. on an individual equity, let's talk about bank of america.